Already, analysts and media watchers are predicting that three of the changes that the FCC's Republican majority plans to adopt Monday will face opposition in the courtroom and on Capitol Hill. Those new rules would:

- Allow companies to own a newspaper and a TV station in the same market.

- Enable individual television networks to reach even more homes in the U.S.

- Allow a company to own up to three TV stations in a single market.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell, a Republican, has pushed for deregulation, saying current rules prevent traditional media, such as free broadcast TV, from competing fairly against new media.

Cable TV, for instance, draws revenue from advertising but also from customer fees.

By allowing TV networks to get bigger, Powell and others have argued, broadcasters can become more efficient and more profitable.

Two other Republican commissioners are expected to side with Powell, while two Democrats, who have urged a delay to gather more public input, are likely to oppose the measures.

On Friday, some media executives entered the fray, saying Powell was going too far. CNN founder Turner wrote in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, "If these rules had been in place in 1970, it would have been virtually impossible for me to start Turner Broadcasting or, 10 years later, to launch CNN."

In an interview, Emmis Communications Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Smulyan, whose company owns 16 television stations, including five Fox affiliates, said the proposed broadcast changes were "a big gift to a couple of networks."

He said raising of the cap to let television networks reach 45 percent of households, up from 35 percent, would benefit Viacom International Inc., which owns CBS, and News Corp., which owns Fox.

Hurt would be mom-and-pop station affiliates because of increased control networks would have, from fees to programming decisions, Smulyan said.

"As the networks grow bigger, they get more oppressive," he said. "So when the chairman says we have to save free TV by making the network stronger, it's really disingenuous."

Like other smaller and midsize players, Indianapolis-based Emmis is taking a wait-and-see attitude, limiting early speculation that a rush of buying and selling will take place.

"We look at all our options. You never say never," Smulyan said.

Most analysts expect some activity, with companies that own newspapers and TV stations--such as Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune; Gannett Co., which owns USA Today; and Media General Inc., which owns the Tampa Tribune--expected to actively pursue deals.

Midsize and small newspaper companies, such as Lee Enterprises Inc., McClatchy Co. and Pulitzer Inc., could be takeover targets.

"Most of the activity will be television to television," said Jim Rutherfurd, an executive vice president of Veronis Suhler Stevenson's investment banking unit. "Clearly, there is some pent-up demand."

"The biggest impact, depending on the final ruling, will be in mid-to-small markets, where they need the relief," said Pat Mullen, president of Tribune Broadcasting. He said smaller markets need duopolies--where a company owns two stations in the same market--to "restore some economics."

But many media executives say a consolidation frenzy, such as the one in radio that followed the 1996 Telecommunications Act, isn't likely.

"My sense is that there will not be a huge amount of activity immediately," said Gary Pruitt, chairman, president and CEO of McClatchy, which owns 21 newspapers. "We're not going to be a leader trying to buy television stations in our newspaper markets. We don't see the kind of synergies and advantages that other companies, including Tribune, have touted. The empirical evidence is mixed."

Other executives said that companies that already have begun actively pursuing cross-media strategies would be the first to move.

"Companies that have already experienced conversion, such as Gannett, Media General and Tribune, will move a little faster," said Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews Group Inc., which owns 47 newspapers, including the Denver Post.